Southwark Council and Hyperoptic partner to deliver Gigabit enabled broadband

Southwark Council has entered into an agreement with Hyperoptic that will enable 100,000 homes and businesses in the borough to have access to gigabit full fibre broadband. Hyperoptic will service the whole of Southwark Council’s housing portfolio, which includes over 53,000 residential homes and nearly 1,000 commercial properties. As a result of servicing these buildings, Hyperoptic’s network will also pass an additional 46,000 homes and businesses in the borough.

This landmark arrangement forms a block agreement to deploy full fibre broadband across the entire council-owned residential estate of Southwark over the coming year. The first installation at the Osprey Estate is due to be live within six weeks and the rest of Southwark’s buildings will be connected over the coming year.

Hyperoptic is the UK’s largest residential gigabit broadband provider. By signing this agreement, Southwark Council is enabling Hyperoptic to increase its network footprint across the length and breadth of the borough – at no cost to the taxpayer – this will mean even more residents and businesses can benefit from access to the UK’s fastest broadband speeds.

Hyperoptic already passes 22,000 homes in Southwark. As part of the installation process, Hyperoptic will install over 40km of cable in Southwark – on top of the 22km it has installed to date. This means that Hyperoptic’s full fibre network will pass over 80% of premises in Southwark, from the current 20% it covers presently.

Today, Hyperoptic covers one in seven homes in central London. With this agreement and other planned deployments Hyperoptic will reach one in five homes by this time next year. If other London councils follow suit this number could be increased to one in three.

Cllr Fiona Colley, Cabinet member for finance, modernisation and performance at Southwark Council: “Once again Southwark Council has shown how we can find innovative new ideas and partnerships to help deliver a better broadband service to our residents.

“This new agreement with Hyperoptic will complement other projects we have undertaken around the borough and means we can get improved broadband into more of our council estates, increasing the choice for our tenants and making it easier for Hyperoptic to then extend their service to private properties nearby.

“In addition, Hyperoptic has committed to providing every council-owned TRA Hall and community centre with free gigabit capable broadband connections and as we work towards getting everyone in the borough online, it is also fantastic to hear that Hyperoptic will be offering digital inclusion training to staff and residents on our estates so everyone can gain the knowledge and confidence to make the most of the new services being offered.”

Last year, consumer champion Which? named the London borough of Southwark as one of the 20 worst places in the UK for broadband speeds, with an average download speed of 10.4Mbps. With full fibre from Hyperoptic, constituents will now have access to symmetrical broadband speeds of 1,000Mbps. Hyperoptic achieves these speeds because it installs fibre all the way into the building, home, or business. By facilitating the upgrading of telecommunication infrastructure in the borough, Southwark is catalysing tomorrow’s digital connectivity, which will be the foundation for 5G, autonomous vehicles, smart city infrastructure, e-health, and more.

Hyperoptic is leading the shift to Gigabit Britain via building a next generation full fibre network. Its network already passes 400,000 homes and businesses across 30 UK cities and towns in the UK – 50,000 of which are social housing properties. It is on track to make its hyperfast broadband service available to five million properties by 2025.

Dana Tobak, CEO, Hyperoptic, adds: “The role of local government in enabling the future of a full fibre Britain cannot be understated. Wayleaves are the number one hindrance to urban rollouts. Southwark has chosen not only to help, but also to champion a digital future for its residents.

“Thanks to the hard work of Southwark Council and our team, we can now substantially invest in the area and quickly rollout our future-proof infrastructure across the whole borough. Unfettered Internet access has the power to revolutionise lives – we sincerely hope that other councils will follow Southwark’s example and empower us to deliver gigabit enabled fibre to more residents and businesses.”